Imaginational Anthem 5

It’s a true honor to be a part of the 5th installment of the always beautiful and inspired Imaginational Anthem series on Tompkins Square. The talented guitarist Sam Moss, featured on volume 4 of the series, was asked to curate this one and was nice enough to invite me to contribute alongside some incredible contemporary guitarist’s including Steve Gunn, Jordan Fuller, Nick Schillace, Will Stratton, Bill Orcutt, Daniel Bachman, Eric Carbonara, Alexander Turnquist, Cam Deas and Yair Yona.. Due for release November 13th!  The volume will also be part of a 6-CD box set due out November 23 containing all 5 of the Imaginational Anthem disks along with a live disk from William Tyler.  Previous installments include an incredible cross-section of both contemporary guitarists and legendary pioneers such as greats John Fahey, Sandy Bull, Max Ochs, Khaki King, Glenn Jones, Peter Lang, Robbie Basho, Sharron Kraus, Michael Chapman, Jack Rose, James Blackshaw, Jose Gonzales, Christina Carter, among so many other visionaries.  I am beyond humbled to have any association with such a lineage!

Hope your enjoying this Autumn season…

With Love,

DPG

2011 In Retrospect

Greetings and Happy New Years to you all!

A list of what made this year memorable – enjoy!

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Adopting our little feline companion named Eli. What a dream he is!

Music (in no particular order):

Grouper – AIA: Alien Observer / Dream Loss
Talk Talk – Laughing Stalk (reissue)
Mark Hollis – s/t (reissue)
Gillian Welch – The Harrow And The Harvest
The Psychic Paramount – II
Leyland Kirby – Eager To Tear Apart The Stars
Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces
James Blake – s/t
Peaking Lights – 936
Golden Retriever – Light Cones
Bombino – Agadez
Tim Hecker – Dropped Pianos

Live:

Tinariwen @ Yoshis, SF – can’t remember the last time I danced with such abandon!

Solo set’s by Neil Young & Bert Jansch (RIP) @ The Fox Theater, Oakland – woah!

J.D. Emmanuel @ Brava Theater, SF – absolute blissssss!

Hearing Kenric sing his heart out with 30 person choir IOCSF (International Orange Choral) at the lovely St. Marks cathedral. It was an Eastern-Block themed program – so amazing!

Playing solo more than ever, and in so many wonderful non-club venues with such great musicians; The beautiful SF Zen Center w/ Barn Owl & Date Palms, St John’s w/ Myrmyr and art spaces like Subterranean Art House w/ amazing guitarists Chuck Johson & Alexander Turnquist, both of which put out excellent releases this year.

Getting back on the road with my band The Drift and touring Europe supporting our good friends Explosions In The Sky. So grateful for the experience and a nice anecdote to what had been some very challenging times – Rest In Peace Jeffrey! Your still with us.

Recording and releasing the Moholy-Nagy debut, my second solo album, and The Drift’s fourth full-length all in the space of one year. Here’s to 2012 being just as fruitful!

Film:

Nostalgia For The Light – hands down one of the most achingly beautiful documentaries.
Arbor – find this doc and see it. it will blow your mind on so many levels.
Midnight In Paris – Woody’s best in years.
Bridesmaids – LOL!
Cave of Forgotten Dreams – great Herzog doc. see it in 3-D for maximum effect.

Wine tasting with the family…

Becoming an Uncle to my third nephew Charlie.

All the best to you in 2012!

Love,
DPG

Show recap & News

I had the pleasure this past weekend of sharing a bill with friends and excellent guitarists Chuck Johnson of Oakland and Alexander Turnquist of Hudson NY.  We played in Berkeley at a lovely little art space called Subterranean Art House.  It was an intimate room with nice acoustics, perfect for delicate music.  I definitely recommend folks in the area to check it out.  The turnout was modest, but you really felt that people came to listen.  I opened the evening with a set of electric pieces I’ve been toying around with as of late.  Material I hope to record soon.  Next up was Alexander on acoustic 12 string.  As soon as he began, the room was immediately under the spell of his intricately picked guitar webs.  Hard to believe all that sound could be generated from just two hands on one instrument.  Very beautiful and deceptively complex music, despite how relaxing it was to listen to.  Closing the night was the always elegant work of Chuck Johnson, who played many of the pieces from his recently released debut album, ‘A Struggle Not A Thought’ released on the Strange Attractors Audio House imprint.  His set was pristine in every way.  Each note, scrape, pluck, and strum was played with so much intention and finesse.  What sets Chuck apart from so many finger-style players to me is his ability to marry formal technique with real feeling and nuance.  His melodies linger and often have an aching beauty to them without ever feeling forced or saccharine.  So nice.  It was really a treat to be a part of it.  I highly recommend you pick up both Chuck and Alexanders excellent new albums, both of which are available on LP, CD, and for download.  Click on the album art below for links to purchase them.

In other news, I’ll be slowing chipping away at recording some new songs for an album to be released in 2012 on the excellent Three Lobed Records!  I’m very excited to be working with them.  More details on that soon to come.  In the meantime, I’ve still got copies of my recent LP ‘In Search Of Light’ on the Students Of Decay imprint – hit me up if you’d like to grab one!  For those of you without a turntable, I’m happy to say it’s also now available for download via Morr Music digital distribution at Boomkat and Emusic, with more retailers forthcoming including iTunes.

As always, thanks for reading and listening!  Till next time….

Love,

DPG